Administration:  County Register

The office of county register is a constitutional office, established by article VII, section 1 of the Constitution of Tennessee and is regulated by the general statutes found in Tennessee Code Annotated, title 8, chapter 13; title 10, chapter 7 (public records); title 47, chapter 9 (U.C.C. Secured Transactions); and title 66 (real property and registration of instruments).

The principal duty of the county register is the registration of instruments which the law requires to be, or allows to be, filed or recorded. These instruments include, but are not limited to: deeds of conveyance of real estate, powers of attorney, deeds of trust, mortgages, liens, land sale contracts, plats, leases, military discharges, and papers under the Uniform Commercial Code. The purposes of such registrations are also varied. The records of the register's office provide a public record of real property ownership, liens and various other transactions that affect the public interest. The basic fee schedule for the register is found at T.C.A. §8-21-1001.

The following acts once affected the office of county register in Jefferson County, but are no longer operative. Also referenced below are acts which repeal prior law without providing new substantive provisions.

1. Acts of 1826, Chapter 12, Page 17, validated and made legal certain marriages and entries on land made for citizens residing in portions of Knox County and Jefferson County which were issued by the Clerk of those respective counties when in reality the area from whence they came was in Sevier County.
2. Acts of 1831, Chapter 162, Page 131, validated and legalized all deeds of conveyance and other written instruments heretofore registered in the Counties of Greene, Sevier, Cocke, Washington, Hawkins, Carter, Grainger, Claiborne, Campbell, Jefferson, Blount, Monroe, McMinn, Morgan, Roane, and Sullivan, although the certificates on the same might not have recited an acknowledgment by the Grantor, or were not approved by subscribing witnesses, all of which would be as good and valid at law as all others which had been properly certified and acknowledged in the most formal manner. They would be as acceptable in any Court as evidence of the transactions but nothing herein would affect any suit then pending in Court.
3. Private Acts of 1919, Chapter 197, Page 467, stated that hereafter in Jefferson County females over the age of 21 years would be eligible for the office of Register. Said females, if and when elected would execute the same bond and subscribe to same oath as all the others. The same duties and the same penalties would apply to the females in office as to their male counterparts.
4. Private Acts of 1921, Chapter 231, Page 728, required that the Register of Deeds in Jefferson County to make an index of all deeds and instruments pertaining to land in alphabetical order according to the Grantor and Grantee, giving the book and page number of the registrations. The Register was further obligated to keep a separate index for releases and other instruments.
5. Private Acts of 1943, Chapter 342, Page 1231, declared that the Register of Jefferson County would keep and maintain the Cott System of indexing or pay the penalties prescribed herein for his failure to do so.
6. Private Acts of 1951, Chapter 400, Page 1108, prohibited the Register of Jefferson County from recording any deed of conveyance of real estate unless the deed bore the stamp of the Tax Assessor certifying that the Assessor had copied the names of the Vendors and Vendees, or his Deputy, to be on duty during office hours in order to stamp the certification on the deeds and other instruments.